Unova Journey
by TheFlyingBoat
Summary: Follows the journey of Brendan as he travels to Unova. Just started playing pokemon black i know im a bit late and i liked it so much that i wanted to write, so this is what i picked. Just a simple story, and i'll upload more chapters when i have time and if people like it.
1. Chapter 1

Brendan looked out from the deck of the ship and gazed at the incoming port. Brown leaves covered the trees, and a cold wind blew. Behind the harbour was a mess of brick houses sitting on cobblestones that stretched as far as the eye could see. That was strange, he thought. Nuvema Town was supposed to be the smallest settlement in Unova, but it looked at least the size of Rustboro. Well, he supposed, that just showed how large the cities were in this region.

It felt good to be travelling again. Brendan had beaten the Hoenn league, and gone up against the Elite Four. He had travelled to Johto, supplementing his team with native Pokémon. Afterward he returned to Hoenn, and after a brief stay home, he had entrusted his Pokémon to his father's care, and travelled, completely alone, to Unova. He knew absolutely nothing about the native Pokémon, the people, the cities, or even the attacks and abilities so much in use there. He was looking forward to it immensely.

Having docked, Brendan walked along the pier. He fancied a coke, so bought one from a vending machine before spotting a Pokémon Centre.  
"Hey," Brendan said, entering the Centre and walking up to the front counter. The receptionist smiled at him.  
"Can I sign up for the Unova league here?" Brendan asked. Before challenging their first gym in a region, trainers always had to sign up at a Pokémon Centre. Well, it had been in the regions he had been to.  
"You sign up at a gym." The receptionist told him, smiling supremely.  
"Alright, thanks," Brendan said, walking away. He didn't like feeling like an idiot. He had grown used to being not only one of the most powerful, but also one of the most knowledgeable. He had always thought of himself as humble, but not knowing something little like that really set home that he was in a very foreign place from what he was used to. And he had thought Sinnoh sounded far away.

Another feature of the region that he found strange was the presence of a shop in the Pokémon centre. Not just a little stall, but a complex, completely devoted to Pokémon merchandise. After strolling through, Brendan found himself a Unova Pokédex, complete with an impressive array of new features, and a collection of chrome balls of various types. They were all very expensive, especially the Pokédex, but after all his victories, Brendan had more money than he could ever spend. Not with his current lifestyle, at any rate.

After that, having read through some brocures and decided that Nuvema Town held little of interest to him, he decided to move on to Accumula Town, which was apparently half a day's hike away. As he left the town, he was challenged to a battle by a trainer but, for the first time in his life, had to refuse.

It was definitely time to find some new Pokémon.

Outside the town grew sparse forests of oak and similar trees, with a glistening, slowly moving river running through it. As Brendan walked along, the wind wafted up his jumper sleeves, chilling his arms. He didn't much like the sensation. He had spent most of his life in Hoenn, and was used to humidity, not cold. Though, he had to admit, the air smelt wonderful. He was just thinking of lunch – he had a packet of sushi in his backpack – he reached the peak of a hill, and realized that he could already see Accumula Town in the distance.  
"The towns in this region are really close together," Brendan said, aloud. Accumula Town didn't have its own gym, but the next town did, and while he had no Pokémon, he was in no rush. He figured, therefore, it was as good a time as any for lunch, so he cleared a space amongst the leaves and sat down. He pulled out the plastic box of sushi, put it on the ground in front of him, and picked up a roll. Figuring that no Pokémon would get at his food from right in front of him, he instead stared around him. The trees glistened in the cool air.

Finishing his first roll, Brendan looked down, and found that there was only one sushi left, whereas before there had been three.  
"Gotta be kidding me," Brendan muttered, glancing around for a possible culprit. But even as he did so, the remaining sushi floated out of the box and into the air. Figuring it was the work of a bug type and it's String Shot, Brendan grasped around above the roll, attempting to sever the line, but found nothing. Then the sushi began to grow smaller in front of him, as though it were being eaten. So Brendan reached forward and, to his immense surprise, found a section of very solid, fluffy air in front of him. Then, in his hands, a creature materialized. It was forty centimetres tall, and only weighed a few kilograms. It was covered in fluffy white fur, with long red ears. Two feathery tails sprouted from its back, and two huge blue eyes stared up at him, almost enough to make Brendan forgive him for eating his lunch.  
"What are you?" Brendan asked it. The Pokémon cocked its head to the side, but even after eating everything it didn't seem to want to escape. So Brendan reached into his pocket for his Pokédex, and scanned it.  
_Victini:_ _The Victory Pokémon. Victini creates energy inside its body, and shares this energy with those who touch it. It has a very caring nature, but will fight with force if friends are under threat. Type: Fire/Psychic_

"So that's why I'm not hungry anymore," Brendan told it, "Well, I need a fire type, so do you wana come along with me, Victini?"  
The victory Pokémon cocked its head.  
"I'll give you plenty more sushi."  
Victini, understanding, nodded happily, and jumped into the air, flying using the wings on its back. Brendan, searching his pack, found on the his new Repeat Balls, choosing them for their design more than anything. He liked to use a variety of different balls, so as to make identifying his Pokémon easier.  
"Ok, Victini," he said, turning back. Then his heart jumped in his chest as he noticed Victini flying up and away.  
"Come back!" Brendan yelled, getting up and grabbing his pack, and running down the hill after the victory Pokémon. Victini, either oblivious or uncaring, fluttered through the trees, at a surprising speed. But Brendan had lots of experience in throwing balls, and as soon as Victini flew into a clearing, he hurled the Repeat Ball at it. His aim was true, and Victini disappeared in a flash of light. The Repeat Ball fell, hitting a branch and bouncing into a clump of leaves. Brendan, far below, looked up and watched for a moment, and just as he thought it had worked, the ball broke open and Victini immerged. It looked around, as though wondering what had happened, before flying back in to investigate the Repeat Ball. The victory Pokémon picked it up, examining it, before pressing the button on the front and disappearing into it again. The Repeat Ball fell for a second time, and this time Brendan managed to catch it, and as he turned it over, the blinking light faded.

Victini had been captured.

Well, that was one way to do it.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

As Brendan walked into town, his first thought was that something was wrong. The streets were empty. He ran down the road until he came to a fruit shop, in which an old woman was stocking up on watermelons. This was definitely not characteristic of a crisis, so Brenan slowed to a walk.

Eventually, he stumbled upon a marketplace, toward the centre of Accumula Town, which currently seemed to hold most of the population. Everyone was crowded around a man dressed in regal gowns, standing on a platform in the centre of a market place and talking into a microphone.

"Pokémon are subject to the selfish commands of Trainers," the man on the platform was preaching, "they get pushed around when they are our "partners" at work... Can anyone say with confidence that there is no truth in what I'm saying?"  
"What?" Brendan said aloud, wondering what on Earth he was waffling on about.  
"We must liberate the Pokémon!" The man shouted, throwing his fist in the air, "Then, and only then, will humans and Pokémon truly be equals!"  
"Liberate?" Brendan repeated in disbelief. This guy, dressed like a monk at mardi gra, and the gang of colourless goons behind him, were trying to persuade the townsfolk that Pokémon were enslaved. He had heard of people believing that confining Pokémon to poke balls was cruel, as was battling, but he had never come across anyone like this.  
"We are all equals!" he shouted at the man on the platform, who either couldn't hear Brendan, or simply ignored him.  
"We sincerely appreciate your attention." The man said, bowing to the crowd and walking, along with his gang of bodyguards, from the platform, disappearing into the crowd.

"Next time you should probably just keep it down," someone said from behind him. Brendan turned around to see a boy a few years younger than him.  
"Did you hear that stuff?" Brendan asked, "It's like they were the members of some deluded cult!"  
"They kinda are," the boy said, "He's a sage of Team Plasma."  
"Never heard of them."  
"What, have you been living under a Gigalith?"  
"A what?"  
"Your being serious, aren't you?" he asked. Brendan nodded.  
"We had better have lunch," the kid told him.

"So that's their story," Brendan said, leaning back and closing the lid of a pizza box, "What's yours, Cheren?"  
"I just started on my journey," Cheren told him, "Got my first Pokémon, captured a few more, been training them here in Accumula Town before I go over Striation City my first badge."  
"No kidding," Brendan said, "I've just come over from Hoenn. I'm starting a new journey with only Pokémon I catch here, so I guess we're both beginners."  
"Really?" Cheren asked, "Do you wanna battle?"  
"Sure," Brendan smiled, "But it'll have to be one on one, cause I've only got one Pokémon so far."  
"Fine with me," Cheren said, "I know where we can battle."

Cheren took Brendan to a square behind the Pokémon centre, where an arena had been painted into the concrete. Brendan, deciding to go first, threw out his Victini. He had only completely one small training session so far, not enough to challenge a gym, but it'll do for this simple backyard battle.  
"Cool," Cheren said, as the victory Pokémon appeared, "You have a Victini!"  
"Uh, yea," Brendan said, "What, are they rare?"  
"Well, they're not common," Cheren told him, "But they're not terribly rare either. Where'd you find it?"  
"In the forests over there," Brendan told him, "It was eating my lunch from in front of me."  
"Well, let's get this started," Cheren said, throwing a poke ball and releasing a small blue and white Pokémon, that looked suspiciously like a water Pokémon.  
"Go Oshawott!" Cheren said, "Use your Water Gun!"  
"Guess I was right," Brendan muttered, "Victini, Confusion!"  
Victini glowed and the jet of water released by Oshawott was completely dissipated.  
"Tail Whip!" Cheren said. His Oshawott waggled its tiny tail. Victini's defence would have lowered, not that it mattered. Water Gun was a special attack, and that Oshawott didn't look nearly agile enough to hit a flying foe with a physical attack.  
"Tackle!"  
"Dodge." Brendan said, and Victini simply flew higher, out of range.  
"Let's check out that Searing Shot of yours," Brendan told Victini, deciding it was time to fight back. Victini burst into flames, which shot at Oshawott like a shining meteor. Oshawott tried to leap out of the way, but was hit by a glancing blow and went down.  
"Oshawott!" Cheren said in alarm, running to check his Pokémon. Victini flew down to Brendan, and received a pat on the head.  
"Good job, buddy," Brendan said to it, recalling it back into its Repeat Ball.  
"That's the first time I lost." Cheren said, coming over to Brendan.  
"Don't worry about it," Brendan told him, "Even though Oshawott had a type advantage, it couldn't hit Victini. You have to factor stuff like that into your Pokémon choice, which is hard right now, but it'll become easier as you get more types and start evolving."  
Cheren nodded.  
"So you going to Striation City now?"  
"Yup," Brendan nodded, "You were too, right? You wanna go together? I could really use a guide."  
"You are kinda clueless when it comes to Unova." Cheren smiled.  
"Wanna tag along or not?" Brendan asked.  
"Sure, why not?"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 – In Route 2

"So place isn't called Striation Forest or anything?" Brendan asked.  
"Nope, just Route 2," Cheren said.  
"That's weird."  
"Why? What's it like in Hoenn?"  
"Not just Hoenn, but in all the other regions, it's like, they have route numbers, but like, no one ever calls it Route 102, they all just say Oldale Forest."  
"That's weird," Cheren said, "Don't people get confused?"  
"What's that?" Brendan said, stopping as a bush to the side of the track began to rustle.  
"Huh? Oh, its just an Unfezant. You don't wanna capture that."  
"Why not?" Brendan asked, having already taken out a poke ball. In the long run, he needed a flying type, but in the short term what he really needed was a team of three Pokémon, any three Pokémon, to use in the Striation Gym, and in the spirit of his new journey, he didn't want to have to have his dad send over some of his old team.

But Cheren didn't have to explain why Unfezant was an unsuitable Pokémon, because as it walked out of the bushes, the male Pokémon's huge headgear became very visible.  
"That's weird." Brendan said, as the proud Pokémon began to swing its head in warning. The two trainers walked on.  
"So what Pokémon do you think you'll capture?" Brendan asked, "You know, given the chance?"  
"I don't know," Cheren admitted, "Haven't really thought about it. Oshawott was my starter Pokémon, and I captured Tepig and Snivy, so those are the basic types, right? What types do you go for after the basic three?"  
"Well, I always try to go for water, fire, grass, flying and electric Pokémon to make up a team, plus another Pokémon, and that seems to have gone well so far."  
"So should I get a flying Pokémon, and an electric type? I'm not getting a Unfezant."  
"What other flying Pokémon are there in Unova?"  
"Well, there's the Kami trio," Cheren said, laughing. Brendan raised an eyebrow.  
"Oh," Cheren said, "I forgot, you don't know anything about Unova."  
"Thanks." Brendan told him, "Although I guess it's pretty true. What are the Kami Trio?"  
"They're legendary Pokémon," Cheren explained, "They represent Earth, heavens and lightning."  
"Cool," Brendan said, "But you should probably aim lower for now."  
"yea," Cheren said, smiling, "Well, there's Woobat and Swoobat,"  
"Let me guess," Brendan said, "Poison/Flying?"  
"Psychic/Flying, actually."  
"This place is weird." Brenda muttered.  
"Oh, I know," Cheren said, "I should get a Rufflet!"  
Brendan, of course not knowing what a Rufflet was, took out his Pokédex and skipped to the Rs.  
_Rufflet: the Eaglet Pokémon. Powerful despite their size, Rufflet will stand up to any opponent without fear. They crush berries and nuts with their claws, for food.  
_"Sounds neat," Brendan said, "Looks stupid, but it sounds neat."  
"Yea, and it evolves into Braviary," Cheren said, "But, it takes a really long time."  
"All the better for when it finally does evolve," Brendan said, smiling as he remembered certain dragon Pokémon taking months to evolve.  
"So what do you think you'll get?" Cheren asked.  
"What about that?" Brendan asked, stopping and pointing. About fifty metres ahead of them, a Pokémon had wandered onto the track. It was just over half a metre tall, and its brown fur perfectly matched the brown leaves all around it, to the extent that Cheren hadn't even noticed it before Brendan had stopped.  
"What? Oh, that's a Deerling. That's not a flying type, it's a Normal/Grass type."  
"Well, obviously it's not a flying type," Brendan said, rolling his eyes, "Wait, did you say it's a grass type?"  
"Yea…"  
"Well I need one of them," Brendan said, pulling the Repeat Ball from his belt, "Go, Victini!"  
The Victory Pokémon appeared in a flash of red light.  
"I wanna capture that Deerling," Brendan told it, "Use your Searing Shot!"  
Victini nodded, excited to be battling, and shot a burst of fire at the Deerling, who simply bounded into the brush and disappeared.  
"That one's gone." Cheren told him, "Once they're in the bushes Deerling are practically invisible."  
"We're too far away anyway," Brendan said, disappointed.

After a while of walking, Brendan announced that they should stop for lunch.  
"But we're like, half way there," Cheren protested, "If we kept going we'd make it before dark, but if we stop-"  
"We'd get a relaxing lunch," Brendan interjected, "And a full afternoon of training. Which would you prefer, to get to the gym a day later, having trained well, or arrive one day earlier and be defeated?"  
"Would one training session really make that much difference?"  
"Mine do." Brendan smiled.

After a short lunch, Brendan pointed out a lake in the distance, and told Cheren that he would meet him there by nightfall. Then he left the younger trainer, and travelled off into the brush, off the path. After a short walk, Brendan let Victini out of its ball.  
"How are you, buddy?" Brendan asked it. Victini gave a cry and fluttered about.  
"We're going to do some training, okay?" Again Victini gave the cry, so Brendan figured that training was all good with it.  
"Okay, Victini, I want you to fly upward until you clear the canopy, and then fly back down to me, but _without_ breaking any of the branches as you go."  
Victini looked up. Above them was a tangled mass of twigs and leaves. Victini looked back at James, imploringly.  
"Come on, Victini, this is easy." Brendan urged it. Victini gathered itself, then began to fly upward, slowly traversing the branches. It broke off a few twigs here and there, but James felt he could let it go.  
"Okay, good job," Brendan told it, when the victory Pokémon landed back in his arms. "Now do it faster."

It was dark by the time that Brendan and Victini made it to the lake. There they found Cheren, his three Pokémon out of their balls. Oshawott was floating in the water, while Snivy and Tepig were huddled around a flame. Cheren was cooking sausages over another fire.  
"Hey." Brendan said, coming over and sitting down. Victini floated over to Snivy and Tepig and sent a Searing Shot into the Pokémon's fire, making it grow large and causing the other two Pokémon to jump back in alarm.  
"Hey." Cheren said, "How was training?"  
"Pretty good," Brendan said, "Yours?"  
"Alright," Cheren shrugged, "Didn't really know what to do. So I just made them battle each other."  
"Whatever works. Hey, Cheren, what are those glowing things?"  
"In the bushes? Those are Joltik. They're Bug/Electric Pokémon."  
Brendan smiled at the softly glowing webs that seemed to have appeared all through the trees. Back home, his mother wouldn't let Brendan's Ariados into the house, for fear that it would hunt down and eat her Skitty. Ariados was one of Brendan's special favourites, and he often used to send it out first, tie up an opponent, before switching out to a more powerful Pokémon. It's webs were strong, but Ariados didn't have the power to win battles. But if he was right, and if he trusted his Pokédex, he might have found the upgraded, Unova version.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 – The Trio badge part 1

"Hello," the Striation Pokémon Centre receptionist said, smiling at the pair of them, "How can I help you today?"  
"We'd like to, um, have a battle with the gym leader," Brendan said, glancing at Cheren as he spoke. Cheren had told him that, in Unova, one couldn't just waltz into a gym, and instead trainers had to book a time with the local Pokémon Centre, but the rookie trainer seemed to have lost his tongue, and so Brendan hoped he was right.  
"Do you have any time in particular you would like?" the receptionist asked, beginning to type away at a computer.  
"Well," Brendan said, "We both want to battle, and I guess as soon as possible."  
"I can book one of you in for 11:40, and the other in for 4:00."  
Brendan looked at his watch. It had just gone 9:00.  
"You wanna go first?" Brendan asked his fellow trainer. Cheren jumped. He was already becoming visably nervous at the prospect of his first match.  
"Not really." He said.  
"I'll go first," Brendan said, grinning.  
"Alright, well I'll just need your name."  
"Its Cheren." Brendan lied. Cheren would thank him later.

"I wish you hadn't done that." Cheren said, as the pair of them stood outside Striation City's Pokémon Gym.  
"Are you sure this is the place?" Brendan asked, "It looks like a café."  
"It is a café," Cheren said, "But it's the gym as well. Look, the logo's right there."  
"The gym has a logo?"  
"Course," Cheren said, as though it would be strange for a gym not to.

The pair of them walked up some steps and pushed the glass doors open, entering a sort of lobby. An usher stood beside a wooden door, and he smiled as the pair approached.  
"May I help you?"  
"Uh, we're here for a gym battle?" Cheren said, when Brendan made no move to speak.  
"Uh…" the usher looked down his list, "Are you Samuel?"  
"No,"  
"Mitchel?"  
"No, I'm-"  
"You aren't Jessica are you?"  
"Cheren!" he said, before the usher could go on.  
"That would have been my next guess."  
"I thought we had a booking," Brendan said, "How come there are so many trainers waiting?"  
The usher smiled.  
"We run through trainers… quickly. Now, Cheren, you come through, and are you going to view?"  
Brendan blinked. "What? Watch Cheren? Na,"  
"You aren't going to watch me?" Cheren asked.  
"No, you'll be fine." Brendan told him, "I wouldn't want to steal your strategy. We'll meet up at the Pokémon Centre at lunch, okay?"  
"Right." Cheren said, walking through the wooden doors. Brendan gave him the thumbs up, and walked out.

Once he was in the sun again, Brendan looked around and figured he might as well head back into the forest. True, the sights of Striation City beckoned, but he could get a lot of training done in the last few hours before a gym challenge. He also could use a third Pokémon, just in case this gym was strict on the policy of three-on-three battles. But, he figured, for all he knew gyms in Unova might only have one-on-one, or host weird battles where you used three Pokémon at once. Brendan sniggered at the thought. How could a trainer keep track of three Pokémon?

His thoughts were interrupted when a cart next to him, containing a huge selection of rare berries, exploded. Different colours flew everywhere, as tiny pebble-like objects showered nearby pedestrians. Then, a much bigger something, coloured blue, leapt from the rubble and hit the ground hard.  
"What is that?" Brendan laughed as the Pokémon rose to its feet. It was blue, roughly human in shape, and nearly as tall as Brendan was. But by the time Brendan was pulling out his Pokédex, the Pokémon was running, scooping up berries and sprinting from the furious salesman.  
_Sawk: The karate Pokémon. Like most fighting types, Sawk love to train its body, but it will become violent if it's training is interrupted. It lives in the mountains, crushing stone and chopping trees to ready itself for an encounter with Throh._  
"If it lives in the mountains, what's it doing here?" Brendan wondered as the fighting type rounded a corner and disappeared.  
"That Sawk comes round every day!" the salesman was yelling to no one in particular.  
"Does it have a trainer?" Brendan asked him.  
"What? Huh? Oh, uh, no, we don't think so. Once I tried to capture it, and the poke ball worked but it broke free and crushed it."  
"Sawk crushed the poke ball?"  
"Yea, and I'm not a trainer. I can't weaken it and I'm not spending cash buying poke balls when I'm already losing profits."  
"Is it alright if I capture it?" Brendan asked.  
"Go nuts." The cart's owner told him, so Brendan strode off after the karate Pokémon. Although tracking Pokémon in their natural environment was hard, Brendan had lots of practise, and the city was by no means Sawk's natural environment. After a few minutes of walking, Brendan came across a park, in the corner of which was a cluster of trees. That looked promising. Brendan crossed the grassy slope, and reached the pseudo-forest, immediately encountering an Unfezant, which lifted its feathers and screeched at him.  
"I'm getting sick of you guys," Brendan said, making a mock charge at the flying type, which retreated. Then Brendan looked around: the trees were silent, aside from the occasional call.  
"Sawk!" Brendan shouted, "If you're here, my name's Brendan. I'm a Pokémon Trainer. I've trained lots of Pokémon before, and lots of fighting types, and I know that you shouldn't be living here."

Brendan paused. He felt a little foolish, but he knew what was important for fighting types, and if he succeeded he could land an awesome Pokémon. If he failed he could lose Sawk forever.  
"I'm not talking about the park, that doesn't matter," Brendan said, "You need Pokémon to fight. You need to train. So, I want you to come with me, Sawk. I want to take you away from here, and train you to your potential, and to prove it, I want to capture you, and I want to battle you myself." Brendan pulled off his backpack and placed it on the floor. Then he pulled the two balls from his belt, and dropped them in the bag.  
"I wanna fight you on my own, with no Pokémon. Do you think you can take me?"

For a moment nothing happened. Then Sawk dropped from a tree and raised its hands. It had accepted Brendan's offer. Brendan raised his owns hands, and Sawk ran forward.

Although it seemed stupid, Brendan hoped that years of training alongside other fighting types had taught him enough to take down this one. And if he could beat Sawk in melee combat, he knew that he would win its trust.  
Sawk ran toward James much faster than the human expected, and leapt over his head. As he flew overhead, Sawk smacked Brendan lightly across the shoulders, then when it landed the fighting type fell to the floor and swung its legs, knocking Brendan's knees out from under him. The human fell to the ground as the Pokémon rose to its feet, and waited for its opponent to rise. In the leaves, Brendan groaned, then kicked Sawk in the leg. The Pokémon flinched, taken by surprise, which gave Brendan the opportunity to rise to his knees, grab Sawk's arm, and throw him to the ground. Brendan rose to his feet and backed off.  
"Come on Sawk, stop holding back," Brendan told it, "If you do that on my team I'm not going to be able to use you. Come at me,"  
Sawk leapt at Brendan, its fist glowing. It was using Rock Smash. Brendan chopped Sawk in the face and leapt aside. Sawk turned and sprang back, swinging its feet and hitting Brendan twice with a Double Kick. Brendan felt completely winded, and let out a massive exhale, but he didn't want to give up and Sawk was already coming back at him. Brendan reached down and grabbed a fallen branch, and brought it up to block.  
"Come on, you gotta adapt!" Brendan told it, swinging the branch and smashing Sawk over the head. The rotten wood exploded, releasing a few Durant. Brendan kicked leaves at Sawk, but the fighting type simply leapt through the cloud, tackling Brendan to the ground and restraining him.  
"Okay, okay!" Brendan laughed, "I surrender."  
Sawk stepped off him and sat back in the leaves. Brendan sat up and reached for his bag, which was only a short distance away.  
"I think you might have broken something," Brendan told it, smiling. "But, have you decided? Do you wanna join me?"  
Sawk seemed to think for a moment, before nodding. Brendan rummaged through his bag, and pulled out a Great Ball.  
"Now let's go get a badge."


End file.
